A lot of governments around the world have imposed some form of lockdown in their countries as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage.
One of these is the UK that at first just suspended classes and then went the extra step of instituting social distancing measures in the hopes of slowing down the spread of the virus.
To the ordinary people who are affected by the lockdown, this can be a real bummer especially if one really likes going out. That’s why there are those who are defying the lockdown guidelines and going out in public, going so far as not taking any special precautions to minimize their chances of getting infected (or preventing them from infecting others).
This is why one nurse made a tearful plea to Britons to support the NHS by simply staying at home because hospital staff has been left on their knees from the pressure of the pandemic.
Shirley Watts is an operating theater nurse at Basildon University Hospital in Essex. In the video she recorded, she kept fighting back tears as she described how stretched she and her colleagues were to almost the breaking point as coronavirus patients continued to stream in.
She says to the camera: “We’re desperately short of staff. Things are really difficult and we’re all struggling.
“If you stay in and you don’t spread it and you don’t catch it, that takes the pressure off of us because we’re all on our knees at the moment.”
She continues: “We’re trying to save lives, we’re all just doing what we can to save people’s loved ones and I want you to see me like this because I want people to realize how serious it is.
“If you know anyone that’s going out and they don’t need to if you see groups of people, I want you to say something to them. I want you to say ‘you need to stay indoors and you need to stop spreading it, you need to stop catching it.'”
Two nationwide claps have already taken place since Britain went into lockdown in order to show appreciation for the NHS. But the nice weather over the weekend has led people to ignore social distancing rules.
A tearful Shirley adds: “I know people are appreciating what we’re doing, that we’re staying away from our families and putting ourselves in danger to try and save other people’s loved ones.
“It feels like a losing battle, but it’s not because we’ve all got hope and we’re all trying to do what we can.”
Shirley made the video after coming off a six-hour shift and told viewers that she was getting some sleep at home before returning for another shift that night.
Replaced!